Hurricane Polo made its first of two expected landfalls in Mexico late Monday night, Sept. 28, pummeling Baja California Sur with damaging winds and life-threatening flash flooding.
According to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Polo is next heading toward making a second landfall in southern Sonora late Tuesday morning, Sept. 29. The storm is located about 35 miles west-northwest of Loreto, Mexico with maximum sustained winds near 80 mph with higher gusts.
Forecasters said Polo is moving toward the northeast around 10 mph and this motion is expected to continue, along with a "significant acceleration," Tuesday morning. Polo is expected to weaken slightly over the next couple of hours while the center is over Baja California
Sur, however the storm will still be hurricane strength when it makes its second landfall over mainland Mexico.
A hurricane warning is in effect for the west coast of Baja California Sur from Punta Abreojos to Puerto Cortes, the east coast of the state from Loreto to Bahia San Juan Bautista, and for mainland Mexico from Bahia Kino to Huatabampito. A hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area, in this case within the next 12 hours, and that preparations to protect life and property should have already been completed.
The hurricane center said a wind advisory is in effect for portions of southern New Mexico and far western Texas where strong gusty winds are possible late Tuesday afternoon and evening. Hurricane conditions are expected to continue in Baja California Sur during the next several hours and in mainland Mexico later this morning.
Polo is forecast to dump between 6-12 inches of rain across portions of Baja California Sur, with 4-8 inches expected across southern and central portions of the Mexican state of Sonora. The rainfall could produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, forecasters said.
Storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding in areas of onshore winds, the NHC said in the advisory, and the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves near the coast. Swells generated by Polo will also affect portions of the coast of the Baja California peninsula and northwestern Mexico during the next day or so, likely causing life-threatening surf, rip currents and coastal flooding.
Hurricane Polo path tracker
This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.
Hurricane Polo spaghetti models
Illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses only the top four or five highest-performing models to help make its forecasts.
Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Polo makes landfall in Mexico: See path tracker
